Biography
Sometimes it's really surprising what strange and winding roads certain bands will travel on their long way to a musical identity. When Aksu Hanttu (drums), Tom Mikkola (guitar/vocals) and T. Taipale (bass) started ENTWINE in March 1995 it was under a different moniker and surprisingly enough playing US-influenced death metal.
It did not take too long until they got bored with the limitations this music imposed on their creativity. About two years later they had finally found their style which was far more melodic, so it became apparent that they would not only need a good singer to finally realize their visions, but also a second guitarist and a keyboardist in order to add the right amount of layers to their now-emotional music. It was shortly after P. Willman joined the band on vocals and second guitar in Autumn 1997 when ENTWINE recorded their first 4-Track demo "Divine Infinity" in December, 1997. The feedback from the underground was more than positive, and word started spreading about these new hopefuls in the burgeoning gothic metal scene.
After Riitta Heikkonen took over the keyboard-duties in February of 1998, ENTWINE could finally start working on live appearances. When their debut album "The Treasures Within Hearts" was released in September, 1999, reactions around the globe were quite enthusiastic. Despite their initial success, Willman left the band in April 2000, and at the same time the rest of ENTWINE decided to add new bassist Joni Miettinen. Perhaps even more crucial was the introduction of their new singer Mika Tauriainen in May of 2000, managing to finally give ENTWINE the right voice for their bittersweet symphonies. After three month of intense rehearsals, ENTWINE recorded their follow-up album, "Gone", which was released in April of 2002 and immediately received glowing reviews and praise world-wide: Not only was "Gone" named Album Of The Month in Germany's Hammer, but their single "New Dawn" was a permanent resident in German clubs, too. Furthermore their success was crowned by a Top Ten position of "New Dawn" in the national Finnish Single Charts.
The new guitarplayer Jaani Kähkönen joined the band in 2001 as a live session guitarist but pretty soon found his place as a permanent member in Entwine, filling the gap left by P. Willman. It was obvious that their steadily growing amount of fans were hungry for fresh tunes by ENTWINE, so in early 2002 they hit Astia-Studios once again with producer Anssi Kippo to record their third full-length album, "Time Of Despair". Finally the sextet will tour Europe with Theatre Of Tragedy and label-mates Ram-Zet shortly after the release of "Time Of Despair", an album which will surely substantiate their reputation as one of the brightest shining gothic metal stars.
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